Capture, savor, and celebrate right now.
After a few weeks of having all three of us here together Chris is back to meetings (the new legislative session begins next week) and Simon has one more day off school today (it's a "professional development/planning day"). I am ready for a bit of "alone" time around here to get some more work done before the baby actually arrives.
I finished cleaning up, clearing out, and reorganizing Simon's room yesterday. One of the things that was most fun was having him rediscover toys he has not played with for awhile that still bring him entertainment and joy. I am glad to have that entire project completed and can move on to my list for the baby room (thanks for all those kind words on the sneak peek).
One of my favorite things over the past couple of weeks is that Simon has really gotten into reading. REAL reading on his own.
Our normal routine is to read a book to him each evening before going to sleep of his choice (we intervene or make suggestions depending on how late or early it is). One night last week he picked Green Eggs & Ham, climbed up on his bed, sat criss-cross, and told Chris he wanted to read it that night.
It took over an hour for Simon to read Green Eggs & Ham the first evening.
After the excitement (and a bit of fatigue all around) Chris had the brilliant idea to come up with a simple way to track the books he reads all by himself: each time he finishes a book he can add it to a list we are keeping on a bulletin board in his bedroom. That in and of itself was enough of a motivator for him to get down to business and it has been working like a charm for the last week.
The next night he read Robert the Rose Horse.
Tonight he fell asleep while Chris was reading to him. He had spent part of his afternoon reading Green Eggs & Ham (on his own on the couch) and starting on Horton Hears A Who.
I so hope this is just the beginning of a lifetime love of reading.
In addition, I would like to ask for your prayers and positive thoughts. Many of you know that I have had a bunch of moles removed over the last year and a half (actually more than 20 since August 2007). This past week I received some results indicating that the most recent one I had removed from my upper chest area is stage one melanoma (this is more serious on the spectrum than the melanoma I had removed in the past which was only on the surface of the skin). I should be getting more information this week as to what the next steps are in this situation.
Consider this your friendly reminder to have your own skin checked by a dermatologist if you have any suspicions or conerns.
Hi Ali, my name is Léa, I am from Brasil and I discovered your blog last week. I am completely in love with your fantastic work, congrats!!!
I wish you a happy new year and I am sending you good vibes!!! Everything will be ok.
Hugs.
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Prayers to you Ali...
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You'll be in my prayers...take care.
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Ali, my prayers are with you. That is scary news. Will be thinking of you as you continue to get the rest of the results. Take care...
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Sending prayers and good wishes your way...
And when it comes to that lifelong love of reading - well, I can only hope you realize the gift you've given Simon by bringing books into his life at such a young age. Books can be your friends, your companions, your teachers. They can stave off loneliness, bring love and adventure to your life, introduce you to people, places and things that circumstances would normally keep inaccessible.
PLEASE keep us posted about Simon and his books! They will be some of my favorite blog entries, I know!!!
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postive thoughts and heartfelt prayers are on their way to you! I hope everything turns out fine. Take care, EM
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I had a Stage One Melanoma on my back while pregnant with my first child. So scary and yet SO HAPPY they caught it at Stage One! A few trips back and forth to have more and more removed was a little frustrating..but other than a scar to prove my battle :) I am healthy, happy and have had two more children since that scare. Hang in there..the hardest part is waiting for them to tell you the next step. If I could rewind time I SO would have lathered on the sunscreen more!!
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Love, prayers and positive thoughts for you, Ali.
Hugs,
A.
P.S. Love that Simon is becoming a 'reader' - so fabulous!
I like the idea of a list - we might have to try that with our twins.
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I LOVE to read and only 2 out of 3 of my boys enjoy reading. I tried to nourish this habit by taking them to the library once a week. They were allowed to check out the number of books of their age. So when they were 5 they could check out 5 books etc...when I went to visit my son this fall in college he had a stack of books from the library to read just for himself, not required reading. I had the biggest smile on my face when I asked him if he had checked out 18 books...he just laughed! One book caught my eye, something about teaching yourself Latin...I told him I thought he was pretty ambitious since he was already taking 17 hours of classes. Books contain so much knowledge, I hope your son always enjoys reading and I hope all turns out well for you.
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Just wanted to send some hugs - you are in my thoughts and prayers Ali. I hope you enjoy your alone time and I can't wait to see little A's new room :) You always find the greatest goodies. She is already such a lucky girl...as is Simon. Take care.
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Sending you all my positive thoughts and prayers Ali... and thanks for reminder us!
(((hugs))) from Spain.
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You are in my thoughts and prayers. Good for you for taking care of your skin now.
Simon is reading on his own!!! What a wonderful step. I, too, hope this will develop into a life-long pleasure.
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My prayers are with you Ali. You are doing what you should do, and that is checking out suspicious moles. The good thing is that they are catching it early. Keep the faith.
Love to see your beautiful boy reading!
Roseann Rozzi
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Sending prayers and positive thoughts for good news regarding the results.
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You'll be in my thoughts and prayers, Ali.
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Great Job Simon. Our boys aren't far apart....I am loving this new discovery as well!!! You will be in my thoughts and prayers as you work through this new time. I hope all goes well!!!
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Positive thoughts going up for you! I know where you're coming from - I, too, had an in situ fully excised. I was diagnosed the day before I started law school (Aug. 21) and had my surgery Sept. 8.
This one, too, is still very early, so I'm sending you expectations of easy treatment!!
I've since had 5 more moles removed and biopsied, which came back normal, but I still need a full-body check by a derm. Thank you for the reminder!
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Sending you good thoughts & prayers to you and your family. Wishing you the best always.
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Dear Ali,
You are such an inspiration. My prayers and thoughts are with you.
Marsha
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I am praying. Thanks for the reminder as I have been putting off the dermo for way tooooo long. I love everything you touch! Gayle
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Prayers and dynamic energy coming your way.
Congrats to Simon and his zest for reading. Like Debbie Shuh's suggestion, we rotated pages with my niece when she was staying with us and that seemed to work quite well. She loved to hear our voices and inflection too.
Hugs and best outcomes...
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Hi Ali,
My thoughts and prayers will definitely be with you and your family. I'm sorry to hear the news and hope that this all falls into the 'preventative' camp.
As for the reading ... that's so exciting. Sticking with it for an hour is AMAZING!!! My dh and I are both teachers (my dh a reading specialist). Thought I'd give you some of our early reader favorites:
Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman
Owen by Kevin Henkes
Any of the monkey books by Eileen Christelow
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
easier are:
Rosie's Walk and The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins
(these are just a very few favorites in our house, and may or may not be at Simon's level right now ... either way they're nice to own).
Boys often love anything non-fiction too.
Also, check out starfall.com (a huge hit at our house) and http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp (This is through our local library ... you might have a similar service through your local library. Our kids love this site too.)
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Hugs and prayers coming your way from here too - you've given us all a great reminder to take care of those things that we might forget to get checked out.
StacyS. (Alberta, Canada)
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My prayers are with you, Ali. I am so glad you are aggressively taking care of these moles. I lost my brother-in-law to melanoma 9 years ago. By the time it was even discovered, it had spread. So, I am so thankful that you are having the moles removed and staying on top of the situation. Again, you are in my thoughts and prayers.
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I have been vicariously enjoying your pregnancy as you've documented a few things on your blog. My husband and I are just getting approved to hopefully adopt another baby. Being able to hear other's pregnancy experiences is great for me since I don't get to experience that part of womanhood. Congratulations!
And thanks for sharing about Simon's reading. Our two year old really loves books and we read every day. I can't wait until she can start learning to read on her own and your experiences remind me how important this stage is - sticking with the board books and silly stories to help them learn to love reading. I'm an avid reader myself and I love the thought of passing that to my little one.
And my prayers are with you!
Beth
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